Not So Easy

If fast food employees can ask for the upsell, so should sales professionals.

“Do you want fries with that?”

From RAB.com:

Closing too quickly 
Sales consultant Mark Hunter 
It’s always rewarding to close a sale and immediately have the new client sign the documents to secure the sale. No matter how many years in the business, this always feels good. We all have stories about new customers who have “fallen into our lap” and bought quickly. For some reason, we can’t seem to forget the great rush that occurs from these new clients. I’m here to say that as good as the rush might be when we allow a sale to occur too quickly, we wind up leaving money on the table.

When beginning to talk with a new customer, the salesperson and the customer invariably have the intent of doing so with a specific product in mind. It may be any number of products you sell. The initial interest expressed by the customer always guides the discussion. Once the discussion turns to a specific product, the customer’s focus becomes even more closed to any other products. The real danger comes when the customer agrees to buy. At that moment, the customer feels the process is over, and their mind moves to something else, usually something totally unrelated to your business or products.

To avoid a situation like this, the salesperson needs to ask the necessary exploratory questions early to determine the customer’s other needs. By asking exploratory questions early, you are able to assess which additional products may interest the customer. If you wait to ask these types of questions until after the initial sale is complete, you will always be behind. This is the whole principle of not closing too quickly. You need and want enough time to explore and determine all of the customer’s needs.